This article reports on a case study conducted in an urban post-primary school setting, which investigated a teaching and learning group, called a T&L Club, as a model of sustainable professional development for teachers. The group consisted of 18 members from a whole staff of 90 teachers and had been in existence for four years at the time of…

Citizen Development (CD) is a method of delivering low-code no-code (LCNC) development that empowers subject matter experts to design, develop, and deploy applications into production as though they were full-on, experienced coders. This paper explores teachers' perceptions around the potential for, and enactment of LCNC in our education system.…

In 2004, a new form of inspection was introduced to post-primary schools in the Republic of Ireland. It represented a complete change from the previous light touch pattern and reflected the New Public Management approach to policymaking and implementation then becoming fashionable in the jurisdiction. Around the same time, a new policy for…

The study at the heart of this paper was conducted in 2017 to gather data on Irish post-primary teachers' conceptions of assessment at the time immediately following the introduction of a revised policy for assessment by the Department of Education and Skills (DES). Central to the reform policy was an increased emphasis on formative assessment and…

A parallel system of inclusive and special education persists in Ireland despite attempts to move towards integrated provision for students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) along a flexible continuum of support. Even in mainstream schools, duality exists and discrete delivery of special education continues to create 'siloed'…

The purpose of this paper was to examine Irish Physical Education teachers' views on curriculum change at the beginning of its implementation stage, with a particular focus on revision to the Physical Education curriculum and the new Wellbeing programme. In the light of these revisions, teachers were asked to make considerable changes to their…

Current international policy documents on teacher education are peppered with the word partnership and there seems to be an assumption that there is a common agreement regarding understandings of 'partnership'. Traditionally the university has been the decisive voice in educational partnerships which has often led to a power differential as well…

As burgeoning twenty-first century technologies have enabled new ways of reading, writing and communicating, conceptions of literacy have changed -- and English curricula internationally have been modified to include "new literacy skills." Second-level English teachers, however, report needing more guidance in incorporating the teaching…

Teachers are widely recognised as the most powerful determinants of pupil achievement. Those countries considered to have high-performing education systems, such as Finland and Singapore, have prioritised investment in initial teacher education. In the Irish context, teacher education programmes have been high-status, over-subscribed, attracting a…

This paper will set out the key planning considerations regarding the establishment of a dedicated online portal for Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools at post-primary level as detailed in the Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017-2022 (PGE). The research topic is intrinsically linked with action points highlighted within strategy and policy papers…

Algebra has long been identified as an area of difficulty in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Evidence of this difficulty can be found in Irish secondary-level classrooms. Chief Examiner Reports have consistently identified algebra as an area of student weakness in State examinations. In light of poor student performance, and as part of a…

This paper provides a comparative analysis of policies, strategies and programmes for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration in primary and post-primary education, that were active in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and in the Republic of Ireland in 2016. The analysis showed that while KSA was a relative newcomer to the…

A new approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics has been introduced on a phased basis in post-primary education in Ireland. As part of the OECD PISA 2012, a survey was undertaken of in-service mathematics teachers in Ireland, with the aim of gathering data on the opinions of teachers about this reform. Here, a modified version of the…

This book examines the beliefs and attitudes of teacher educators, teachers and student-teachers about the impact of language teaching and learning. It draws on three research-based studies carried out by the author in collaboration with colleagues at the National University of Ireland, Galway, King's College London and the Lynch School of…

The role of faith-based schools is increasingly debated within a context of school reform, rights and plurality in multi-ethnic societies. The Catholic schooling system in the Irish Republic (always referred to as Ireland in the text) represents an interesting case internationally because of the extent to which Catholic education is structurally…